The Death of Superman

The Death of Superman is an animated movie recently released as part of the DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU). For those of you who do not know what the DCAMU is all about, it simply is a recent grip of animated movies produced on the continuity of the New 52 Comic series by DC Comics. These series of animated movies are worth the time investment if you have not already watched them. We at 812review highly recommend you take the time and watch the latest release, The Death of Superman.

The latest attempt on the story is really one of the better animated movies by DC. There is no doubt how it will end, but the writers learned from previous mistakes and took the time to really show the development of Superman. We not only see him in the role of an icon to the world for hope, they also show how he is a respected leader among the other Justice League members while struggling to balance his two worlds of Clark verses Superman. Tackling what is probably the most important real struggle for Superman, who is he; Clark Kent masquerading around as Superman, or Superman who pretends to be Clark Kent? This puts Clark on a path to reveal himself as Superman to his love, Lois Lane. There should be no real spoiler here, but the short explanation is Dooms Day shows up and puts the beatdown on the Justice League, then puts the beatdown on Superman, then in a final act of heroism Superman kills Doomsday, then himself falls victim to his wounds, and finally we see the death of Superman. Now that we have addressed the obvious, let’s review some of our favorite parts of the movie. You will need to let us know your favorite part of the film in the comments below, but for us we have two moments that stood out the most.

The first was in an early sequence of the Doomsday fight when Wonder Woman is going toe to toe with the monster. Seeing her step up in that moment as the power house for the League was just well scripted and so well done, she almost stole the show. The second was late in the Doomsday fight sequence when Superman is on the bridge and trying to save civilians while fighting the monster. We find Lex Luthor engaging the monster and as he fails to succeed, Doomsday overpowered him and throws Lex to his death, but as expected Superman saves him. The two have a brief glance that just speaks volumes to the core Superman fans. It was so well timed and perfectly animated you could just imagine in that moment what both of them was thinking. We believe both of them was acknowledging that Doomsday was not going to be stopped and Lex realized this was really the end of Superman, while Superman was giving his final lesson to Lex that he can be better if he wants to. There are many other great moments in the film so share with us your favorite.

In 2007 DC produced Superman: Doomsday. This was the first on screen attempt to bundle the entire death of Superman into one full length movie. In this adaptation you also get into the next story arc of Superman returning. Most recently the Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice movie depicting Doomsday stabbing Superman through the heart gave us a new consideration on the villain and this story. Both of these have their own merits in regards to Doomsday but overall we like the most recent version the best.

We would be remiss if we did not talk about the comic The Death of Superman. If you enjoyed this movie, and want to know more about Superman, then we highly suggest you dive into the comics. Just like most movies, the writers take what works from the source material and repackage it into a script that will work for the movie. In animated movies you tend to get a bit more liberty for the action then writers for TV and blockbuster Movies tend to get. If you research the comics you will get a much different story line, but it will give you an entirely new perspective if you choose to watch the movie again. At the time DC published The Death of Superman, it was a Comic event like no other. It is easy to say it shattered every record to date of that time, but the concept that DC was willing to kill such a main character was simple unheard of. Superman was considered untouchable as main characters certainly would never die in a battle. Well, DC took the marketing risk and not only found it to pay off big time, they started a trend we see continuing to this day; tragic origins, followed by tragic death, followed by miracle resurrection. This lifecycle of a superhero is all thanks to Superman. DC doubled down on the entire idea by producing a few followup story arcs with the Funeral for a friend, Reign of the Supermen, and The Return of Superman. All of these storylines crossed over into other DC properties and just feed an increasingly growing desire of the fan base to expand the story. If you are interested in learning more directly from the source material we have a suggestion for you; actually five.

DC Comics has released five various collections covering each important story arch around the Death of Superman.

1. Superman: Doomsday

2. Superman: The Death of Superman

3. Superman: Funeral for a Friend

4. Superman: Reign of the Supermen

5. Superman: The Return of Superman

If you really want to nerd out, we at 812Review have a few suggestions. Check out some of these other great movies produced as part of the DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU).